And so, imagine my surprise when my buddy and fellow writer CP Bialois put my name in for this. Everybody knows that when you go in search of sunshine and wholesomeness, I’m the last stop. In fact, as the saying goes, I’m just one big ray of f@*#ing sunshine.

But, the gauntlet was hurled and I’ll stand at my end of the arena and do my part. As I see it, I have to answer some questions and then make up my own questions and hurl them at other bloggers. Heh heh, I knew I would get some kicks from this. Here goes…

Do you write to the TV, music, or in silence?

Well, there’s no music or television. I guess there’s silence in the room however, it’s hardly quiet. My characters have this annoying habit of insisting that they tell the story.

Do you imagine movie stars as your characters? Which ones?

Yeah, this is the weird, spooky part. As I said, they talk to me while I write. Sometimes it takes a while for me to figure whose voice they have stolen. Other times, like in the case of one character named Titan, I know immediately. He channels Sean Connery.

If you could sit down with one author, who would it be?

Without hesitation, it would be my master and inspiration, Mr. J. Ronald Tolkien. I haven’t a clue as to what I would say to him, except thank you for writing the stories that would echo in my head for so many years. To me, his work has always been the beginning and ending of high fantasy.

When’s your creative time?

I’m an extreme early bird and I love the time of day around 5-ish in the morning. The world is just waking and it just smells so clean. It allows me to be very creative in its silence.

What vices do you have when writing?

Well, I’m not sitting around naked and chain-smoking stogies. My worst vice is cursing too much. I never knew it was a problem until I heard my daughter yelling at a driver that honked at us by referring to him as a “dumbass sunuvabitch”. So now, I keep that in check. As for writing, I have an odd ritual. I start with a piping hot cup of Earl Grey tea and 4 (not 3, not 5) Chips Ahoy cookies. I eat, drink and let the voices get started.

So that was my part. I’m bloodied, battered and bruised…but I’m alive! Take that Ed! I made it through. Now it’s time to send this on to other unsuspecting souls.